Hi all,

I'm a first time poster, so if this is a dumb question or has already been answered here before, please don't blast me.

Here are the symptoms:
*My ethernet card in my four-year-old Dell (on Windows XP) was busted, so I replaced it.
*Turned on my machine, reset my modem/IP address, and connected beautifully, using Firefox and AIM
*Somewhat stupidly, I opened Internet Explorer to check out something Microsoft-y and ever since my connection has timed out for anything I've tried to do
*The connection appears to be active and fully connected, but again, everything times out
*A '1394' connection appeared inexplicably
*I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling both the new card and the '1394' connection via Device Manager, with no difference

Anyone got a diagnosis or solution?

Thanks for your help!

"*My ethernet card in my four-year-old Dell (on Windows XP) was busted, so I replaced it"...

Are you sure the "bad ethernet card" wasn't actually on-board to the motherboard and not a card? So you can no longer connect to the Internet? You're not too clear on this point. Why the reset on the modem? That should not have been necessary... The 1394 call is a USB port. Is the modem connected USB?

On your I almost went back to reinstall the old card (if the native part is not a card, it sure looks like one), but it occurred to me that the internet HAD worked without the original card in. The new card working can't rely on the old card being present--when I first turned my computer back on after installing the new card, everything worked like a charm. It was only after I opened IE that the problem started.

The more I think about it, the more I think it's a virus triggered by the fact that I opened Internet Explorer. I'll concede that I don't know the first thing about viruses, but given the order that things happened (and the fact that I hadn't used IE in ages), it seems logical to me.

Thoughts anyone?

Yes, I think you are right about a malware or virus attack. I have never seen this particular symtom, but anything can happen. The IE problem may be a symptom and not the cause

>> *A '1394' connection appeared inexplicably

this is the Firewire adaptor; unless you need it, use the Device Mgr to disable the device.
this will simplify issues for you.

Yes Jobeard,
1394 firewire USB port

possibly this issue:
In internet explorer go to tools> internet options> connections and make sure that the option "never dial a connection" is selected.

This is because you are using a router and not a modem/adsl modem and if the other options are selected it tries to "dial" and stops the wifi from working.